Kevin Adcroft has a taste for two things in life — the perfect glazed doughnut and vintage automobiles.

Adcroft, a second-generation co-owner and operator of the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in South Scranton, Lackawanna County, and his family celebrate 60 years as franchisees of Krispy Kreme in 2017 while the national parent company marked 80 years in business earlier this month.

Adcroft’s father, Joe, opened his first shop on Wyoming Avenue in 1957, where Adcroft started working by age 14 along with his eight siblings. By the late 1970s, the family built up the South Side location, and today, five out of nine of the Adcroft kids remain in the family business between the Clarks Summit and Scranton locations.

Time to make the doughnuts

“Slinging rings” (or making doughnuts) remains a father-son affair for Adcroft, whose youngest son, Jordan, also works at the shop. But the city resident’s other multi-generational project is the restoration of his 1977 Volkswagen Westfalia bus, which was the vehicle for numerous family road trips, impromptu local garage band concerts and even occasional doughnut deliveries back in the day.

The distinct yellow bus pops up throughout family albums that show many memorable summer adventures Adcroft shared with his two sons, Jordan, 27, and Ben, 29. The Westfalia has seen better days as of late, however, so it rests in Jimmy Ryan’s Body Shop off Keyser Avenue, where mechanic and family friend Paul Sidarovich works on repairing the extensive rust damage whenever he can. The goal, Adcroft said, is to get the bus road-ready again.

Yet the VW bus isn’t the only vintage gem to catch Adcroft’s eye. His personal collection includes a 1971 VW bug and a 1978 convertible among a dozen or so motorcycles, dirt bikes and scooters he keeps at home, but it was a special visit from the Krispy Kreme Cruiser during the most recent St. Patrick’s Parade Day that garnered a great deal of attention.

The impressive machine once served as musician Ray Charles’ tour bus, and remains a brilliant sight to behold — a massive touring bus bathed in bright red and green that features a state-of-the-art doughnut rack inside. Adcroft and his family hosted the cruiser in March for its appearance in the Scranton parade, and its immaculate condition further fueled the desire to return the Westfalia to working condition.

Part of family history

“It’s etched into vacations and fun memories (with my kids),” Adcroft, 55, described of his VW bus. “Even broken down, it would hang out. I’ve done everything in the bus. I used to deliver pizzas for extra money. We’d take road trips to Stone Harbor, the Thousand Islands and Niagara Falls. I’d drive and they’d sleep in the back. We’d eat peanut butter-and-fluff sandwiches and coast to gas stations. I’ll never get rid of it.”

“It was like a playhouse on the road,” his son, Jordan, added. “It’s part of the family, really, like a family member.”

Adcroft bought the bus in 1991 for $200 from a then high school-aged Tom Siddons, Scranton, who followed the Grateful Dead on tour in the Westfalia for years before his father made him sell it, Adcroft recounted. At the time it didn’t run great and needed a spark plug, but after a year, Adcroft invested in a new engine and some bodywork to get it ready for years of adventures to follow.

From functioning as the gig mobile for the family punk rock band comprised of Adcroft, his young sons and their cousins to the thousands of miles it clocked in transporting the family to far-flung destinations, the converted camper Westfalia has earned its due respect and continued support.

“I’ve known this bus a long time. People walk through the door and gravitate to it. I had one guy come from far away to see it,” Sidarovich said. “It’s a cult following. Everybody who had them loved them, and they’ll never sell them.”

While Adcroft and his youngest dream up new travel plans and patiently wait for the bus to be ready, they continue to enjoy each day spent making doughnuts together until they hit the open road again.

“I start at 4 in the morning and when I see him come in at 5, I say, ‘It’s good to see you,’ and I mean it,” Adcroft said.

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